About These Posts

Each day I add a new journal entry to my social media feeds. Here, I take that day’s entry and expand it through the lens of my Good Life Creed, which you can read about in my book Going Alone (available for free on this website). These dissections aim to connect ordinary reflections with the enduring objectives and principles of the Creed.

Journal Entry (10/25/25)

I got the job—a feeling I haven’t known in quite some time. I marked the occasion yesterday with a haircut and fancy ice cream for Yumiko and me in the afternoon. It feels surprisingly good to be “engaged” again with the working world. I’ve long known I’m not well suited for too much freedom. I’m like one of the Japanese giant hornets that visit my balcony each day during the summer—I need the steady hum of purpose to keep me aloft and moving toward something meaningful. Without it, like the hornet in the literal autumn of life, I might simply drift across the meadow and be gone.

I’ll begin modestly: one hour a day, from 9:00 to 10:00 AM, Monday through Friday. My new role is to offer English conversation to Japanese seniors through the school’s online platform. I’m looking forward to it—not just for the structure it will bring to my mornings, but for the simple pleasure of talking with others about ordinary things. Like my students, I have a lifetime of experience to draw from, and I think I’ll enjoy the exchange. My career is behind me, my child grown, and my life’s work complete. Now, each morning, I’ll sit down for an hour of conversation with others who, like me, are still curious and glad for a reason to connect.

Dissection

This reflection celebrates a quiet but profound form of renewal—the rediscovery of purpose after the long exhale of retirement. It marks the moment when freedom, once cherished, begins to feel weightless without the anchor of meaningful activity.

#Reason (Principle of Reason)

Reason guides the recognition that a sense of purpose is not a weakness but a need intrinsic to human nature. The decision to re-engage with work arises not from restlessness, but from a rational understanding of what sustains mental and emotional balance.

#Time (Objective: Make Good and Effective Use of Time and Resources)

Here, time takes on new form—a steady rhythm that restores focus and direction to the day. Even a single hour of purposeful work becomes a vessel for meaning, an affirmation that usefulness can exist beyond ambition.

#Maturity (Principle of Maturity)

Maturity reveals itself in the graceful acceptance of life’s new pace and purpose. The shift from achievement to connection, from striving to sharing, reflects a calm wisdom that honors the present stage of life without clinging to what has passed.

Takeaway

To re-enter the world of work late in life is not to reverse course, but to continue along a refined path—one that honors reason, structure, and the enduring human desire for purpose. Meaning, after all, does not retire.

#RetiringInJapan 🇯🇵 #GoingAlone 🌵 #Reason #Time #Maturity